Surname Saturday ~ Stone of Salem, Massachusetts

There are many, many Stone families in New England
so this was a tricky line to research. It
is unknown where the original immigrant Robert Stone came from, nor his origins
or birthdate. Robert Stone and his sons appear in several Salem, Massachusetts court
records starting about 1651 and in Perley’s History of Salem. I had great help from a book found at NEHGS
(see below Descendants of William Russell).

On 14 December 1665, William King,
Robert Stone’s brother-in-law sold land to him for 47 pounds: “'About twenty
acres upland and one and one half acres salt marsh adjoining it being ye one
half of my forty acres upland and three acres marsh adjoining situated and
lying at ye head of Basse river and bounded with ye said river to ye east and
with the land of Abram Warren to the northwest and west, on ye South west with
ye land of John Bachelor ... being the one half of all ye land I have lying in
that place at Basse River Head the whole containing forty three acres with one
half of all the housing.” [Ryal Side from Early Days of Salem Colony,
by Calvin P. Pierce, Beverly Historical Society, 1931, page 49]

Apparently the Stones and other families who lived
nearby were Quakers, and in November 1660 [Records of the Quarterly Courts for
Essex County, volume 2, page 265] Robert
Stone’s wife, Sarah, was presented at court along with Katherine King and
Elizabeth Kitchin for “frequent absence from the public ordinances; and as a
member of the jury, Thomas Rbbins was obliged to pass judgment on the conduct
of his neighbors. Mrs. King and Mrs.
Kitchin were persistent absentees, and as all were apprehended and fined on so
many occasions, they were finally threatened with ‘imprisonment at the gaol at
Ipswich’” [Ryal Side from Early Days of
Salem Colony, page 53]

There are many connections between Stone family
members and the testimonies given at the Salem witch trials in 1692. Elizabeth Proctor, wife of John Proctor who
was hung as a witch, testified that she argued with Robert Stone twice over
non-payment at her tavern. Robert Stone’s mother-in-law, Alice (Temple)
(Booth) Shaflin, had daughter, Elizabeth
Booth, who testified against the Proctors on 8 June 1692, and told the court
that John Proctor and his wife had killed Robert Stone, Jr. and Sr. She had seen an apparition of both Roberts,
and they told her they had been murdered. This is interesting to me because both Sarah
Shaflin and John Proctor are my 9x Great Grandparents.

“Elesebeth Booth
The testimony of Elesebeth Booth Aged 18 years or their a Bout testifieth that
one the 8 day of June Robert Stone Sinyer Apered unto me. & told me that
John procter Senyer & Elesebeth his wife Kiled him Because they had som
diferance in a redninge & also. at the Same time Robert Stone Juner Apered
unto me & told me that John prockter & Elesebeth his wife Kiled him be
Cause he tooke his fatheirs part
Elesebeth Booth
(Reverse) Booth agt procter”

[Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 1
Page 26]

According to the Stone Family Association website,
Robert Stone of Salem is supposed to be the same Robert Stone buried at
Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard, in the Tower Hill Cemetery. I have no idea why they believe this is the
same Robert Stone of Salem, and I have not been able to find proof to prove or
disprove this claim. A photo can be seen at this link: http://history.vineyard.net/cemetery/th/th32.htm and that epitaph reads:

Here lies buried ye Body of

ROBART
STONE, Sen.

Aged
65 years

departed
this life

12
day of March 1689.

-

This
is in place of the oldest

gravestone
on Martha's Vineyard.

Erected
by Joseph Dunham 1863.

The
old stone lies here defaced.

Sixty
rods southeast from this

grave
may be seen the ruins of

the
cellar of the House of the first

white
settler who came to the Island

1650.

-

This
granite tablet replaced

the
old marble tablet in 1992

The
Anniversary of Edgartown

350th
year.

My Stone lineage:

Generation 1: Robert Stone died about 1694 in Salem,
Massachusetts; married Sarah Shaflin, daughter of Michael Shaflin and Elizabeth
Unknown, She died 22 August 1708 in Salem. Four children:

1. Samuel Stone (see below)

2. Robert Stone, born 24 June 1662 in Salem, married
Hannah Eager

3. Benjamin Stone, born 28 Feb 1665, died unmarried

4. Sarah Stone, born 28 Feb 1667, married Jacob
Manning

Generation 2: Samuel Stone, born 23 January 1657 in
Salem, Massachusetts, died 6 January 1723 in Salem; married on 28 January 1684 in Salem Village
(now Danvers), Massachusetts to Mary Treadwell, daughter of Nathaniel Treadwell
and Abigail Wells. She was born on 22 October 1665 in Ipswich, Massachusetts;
died 6 January 1722 in Salem. Eleven
children:

1.
Samuel Stone, born 15 January 1684/5; married Hannah Unknown

2.
Robert Stone, born 7 January 1686, married Elizabeth Hardy

3.
Elizabeth Stone, born 1 February 1688, married Thomas Symonds (son of the
famous furniture maker James Symonds)

4.
Katherine Stone, born 15 April 16915. Mary Stone, born 21 February 1692/3, died 14 March 1692/3

5.
Mary Stone (see below)

6.
Sarah Stone

7. Abigail Stone was
"bereaved of her reason, and living in 1724" [Perley, Vol. III, p.
11]

8.
Esther Stone

9.
Hannah Stone

10.
Lydia Stone

11.
Mercy Stone

Generation
3: Mary Stone, married 9 January 1718 in Salem to Isaac Wilson, son of Robert Wilson
and Elizabeth Cook, born about 1691. Six children.

3 comments:

Thanks for sharing these details, Heather. I have some very early STONE individuals, but mine seem to be from Gregory STONE who settled in Cambridge MA, with 3 sons (girl died before 2 yrs of age). I just found the Stone Family Association and their details.

I wonder why Robert Stone would be buried in Edgartown. Interesting. Perhaps Essex County probate records would prove or disprove this? To bad this only goes up to 1686: http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/Essex/

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About Me

Author of the Nutfield Genealogy blog. My family research includes Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, with a smattering of Nova Scotia. Please contact me if you see your ancestors on this blog. I would love to share information. I am the recording secretary of the New Hampshire Mayflower Society, President of the Londonderry Historical Society, member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the Mass. Society of Genealogists, The National Genealogical Society, and the New Hampshire Society of Genealogists.